Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018: interim reporting requirement

4. Criminal Justice Statistics

This section sets out the currently available statistics required to meet the Reporting Requirement. The section of the Reporting Requirement which the data covers is provided at the start of each section.

The statistical information provided in this report demonstrates usage of the Act during the first two years of implementation. The nature of the course of conduct offence meant that the first year of implementation did not effectively cover a full year as it took time for cases to build up and progress through the system, and the second year coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread impact across the justice system. Whilst this information provides a vital contribution to the broader evidence base on the implementation of the Act, neither of the years covered here (2019-20 and 2020-21) are considered to be fully representative of its future use. Statistics from future years will provide a better understanding of how the Act has impacted on how domestic abuses cases are prosecuted in court.

The most recent published Criminal Proceedings in Scotland National Statistics bulletin provides data for the first two years of the reporting period only. Criminal Proceedings data for the final year of the reporting period (2021-22), alongside SCTS data for all three years on non-harassment orders and court journey times will follow in the final report (see Annex 3 for more details). Further information on the Criminal Proceedings data, including data quality and counting methodology can be found in the technical annex to the bulletin.

Main Findings

• Limitations on the data available mean it is too early to fully assess the impact of the legislation (see Scope and Limitationss).
• There were 252 people proceeded against for the domestic abuse offence in 2019-20, of which 212 (84%) resulted in a conviction. The number of people proceeded against under the Act increased by two thirds to 420 people proceeded against in 2020-21, with 383 of these (91%) resulting in a conviction.
• The offence in the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 was the only crime type to show an increase in the number of proceedings in 2020-21, when the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent court closures impacted heavily on the capacity for cases to be heard in court.
• The majority of proceedings for the domestic abuse offence took place in sheriff summary courts, 92% of all proceedings in 2019-20 and 89% in 2020-21.
• There was a 5% increase in convictions for the domestic abuse aggravation between 2018-19 and 2019-20, up from 7,751 in 2018-19 to 8,174 in 2019-20. This was followed by a 20% decrease to 6,515 convictions in 2020-21, where there were widespread decreases across proceedings and convictions for almost all crime types owing to reductions in court capacity during the pandemic.
• There were 90 people with a conviction with a statutory aggravation for domestic abuse in relation to a child in 2020-21, compared to 39 in 2019-20. The child aggravation was proven in around a quarter (23%) of all convictions under section 1 of the 2018 Act in 2020-21, up from 18% in 2019-20.

Proceedings and Convictions for the Domestic Abuse Offence

Sections 14:2 (a) and (c)

This data is taken from the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland National Statistics bulletins 2019-20 and 2020-21. Criminal Proceedings in Scotland data is calculated on a 'main charge' basis, where the crime or offence for which a person is proceeded against or convicted relate to the 'main charge' involved. If there are multiple charges in a single case, the 'main charge' is the crime or offence receiving the most severe penalty in court. For context, in 2020-21, 451 people were proceeded against where the domestic abuse offence accounted for at least one charge in a proceeding, of which 420 people had a main charge of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. Criminal Proceedings counts individuals proceeded against and convicted, so if multiple people are proceeded against in the same case they will each be counted separately^[12].

Table 1 below provides the number of people proceeded against and convicted with a main charge of an offence at Section 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, for crimes committed on or after it came into effect on 1 April 2019. It is important to note that data for 2020-21 covers the first full year of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the justice system and subsequent court closures, and should not be viewed as indicative of longer term trends. Further information on this is available in the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics.

Source: Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21

There were 252 people proceeded against under the Act in 2019-20, of which 212 (84%) resulted in a conviction. The number of proceedings under the Act increased by two thirds to 420 proceedings in 2020-21, with 383 of these (91%) resulting in a conviction. Court closures throughout much of 2020-21 resulted in reductions in the number of proceedings and convictions for almost all crime types that year. The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 was the only crime type to show an increase in the number of proceedings that year. This may in part reflect efforts by SCTS to prioritise cases involving vulnerable persons throughout the pandemic and is also likely to reflect the fact that the number of cases concluded in 2019-20 was lower than will be the case in future years as it will have taken time for cases to progress to court after the Act came into effect in early 2019-20.

The conviction rate for offences under the Act was 84% in 2019-20 and 91% in 2020-21. However, in any normal year we would advise caution in comparing changes in conviction rate over time as they are a complex function of a range of different factors, for example the strength of evidence required for cases to be put forward for prosecution. Further caution is required for the pandemic year where other factors, such as the difficulty in holding evidence-led trials due to public health restrictions, may have led to a higher proportion of concluded cases involving a guilty plea being made than in a non-pandemic year, resulting in higher conviction rates.

In each year, the majority of proceedings took place in sheriff summary courts, 92% of all proceedings in 2019-20 and 89% in 2020-21. Sheriff solemn courts accounted for 8% and 11% of proceedings in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively, with a total of three proceedings taking place at the High Court over the two years (under 1% in each year). No proceedings were held in Justice of the Peace courts in either year.

Additional Statistical Data on the Domestic Abuse Offence

This information is not required by the Reporting Requirement but may provide some useful additional context on convictions under the Act. It is taken from the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21 National Statistics bulletin.

The majority of people (62% in 2019-20 and 56% in 2020-21) convicted for the domestic abuse offence received a community sentence. Just under a fifth (18% in 2019-20 and 19% in 2020-21) received a custodial sentence with an average sentence length of around a year (363 days in 2019-20 and 438 days in 2020-21). The remainder received either a monetary disposal (13% in both 2019-20 and 2020-21) or 'other sentence' (7% in 2019-20 and 12% in 2020-21), such as an admonishment or absolute discharge.

In 2020-21 the vast majority of people convicted of the domestic abuse offence were male (369 convictions or 96%). The proportion in 2019-20 was 98% (207 convictions). In 2020-21 39% of people convicted of the domestic abuse offence were in the 21-30 age group and a further 31% of people were in the 31-40 age group. Over 40s accounted for 26% of all convictions and under 21s accounted for the remaining 4%.

Convictions for the Statutory Domestic Abuse Aggravation

Section 14:2 (b) (ii)

The Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 created a statutory aggravation of domestic abuse, which came into force on 24 April 2017. An offence is aggravated if in committing the offence the person intends to cause or is reckless about causing their partner or ex-partner to suffer physical or psychological harm. The aggravation can only be applied where there is evidence capable of proving it and evidence from a single source is sufficient to prove that an offence is aggravated. The aggravation requires to be proven in court to apply to a conviction. It is taken into account in sentencing if proven. If the aggravation is not proven in court it should be removed from the court record.

Table 2 presents the number of convictions under the statutory domestic abuse aggravation. Whilst the reporting period starts in 2019-20, the data below covers the full time period of the aggravation being in force.

Source: Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21

¹From 24 April 2017

Convictions for the statutory domestic abuse aggravation increased over the first three years of its use. The data for 2017-18 is not considered to be a fully representative year as the aggravation did not come into use until 24 April 2017 and the time-lag in cases coming to court following an offence means the figures for 2017-18 do not cover a full year. There was a 5% increase in convictions for the aggravation between 2018-19 and 2019-20, up from 7,751 in 2018-19 to 8,174 in 2019-20. This was followed by a 20% decrease to 6,515 convictions in 2020-21, where there were widespread decreases across proceedings and convictions for almost all crime types owing to reductions in court capacity during the pandemic (Scottish Government, 2022b). It is possible that following the introduction of the specific domestic abuse offence in 2019-20, some offences which were previously categorised as other offences, for example common assault, with the domestic abuse statutory aggravation applied, may now be recorded as part of the course of conduct falling under the definition of the new domestic abuse offence. Data for future years is required to establish the extent to which this may have occurred.

Additional Statistical Data on the statutory domestic abuse aggravation

This information is not required by the Reporting Requirement but may provide some useful additional context on convictions under the Act. It is taken from the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21 National Statistics bulletin.

In 2019-20, the most common crime types with the statutory domestic abuse aggravation that people were convicted of were Breach of the peace (44% of domestic abuse aggravation convictions), followed by Common assault (27%) and Crimes against public justice (19%). In 2020-21, the most common crime types were Breach of the peace (37% of domestic abuse convictions), followed by Crimes against public justice (31%) and Common assault (22%).

In 2020-21 the vast majority of people convicted of an offence with a domestic abuse statutory aggravation were male (5,767 convictions or 89%). This percentage was unchanged from the previous two years.

Convictions for the statutory domestic abuse-child aggravation

Section 14:2 (c)

The statutory aggravation for domestic abuse in relation to a child under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 came into effect on the 1 April 2019. This applies to offences where behaviour is directed at a child, or a child is used to direct behaviour at the partner/ex-partner. The aggravation can only be applied where there is evidence capable of proving it and evidence from a single source is sufficient to prove that an offence is aggravated. It is only applied to offences under the Act.

Table 3 presents the number of convictions under the statutory domestic abuse in relation to a child.

Source: Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21

There were 90 people with a conviction with a statutory aggravation for domestic abuse in relation to a child in 2020-21, compared to 39 in 2019-20. This covers a course of conduct that has taken place on or after 1st April 2019 and as there will have been a time lag before such crimes could be reported, the 39 people with a conviction in 2019-20 does not reflect a full year under the Act. The child aggravation was proven in around a quarter (23%) of all cases where there was a conviction under section 1 of the 2018 Act in 2020-21, up from 18% in 2019-20.